Our didgeridoo

The didgeridoo is a very old Australian wind instrument. It was created over 1500 year ago by Australian Aboriginals. To make one, you must first chop down a Eucalyptus tree, then sand it down, then paint it (usually by doing some Australian dot art). Wax is sometimes put on the end to make it easier on your lips. Shawn and I thought long and hard about whether we wanted to get a didgeridoo or not. On one hand, you have to cut down trees to make it which takes away homes from animals. These instruments are often mass produced (which means a whole lot of them are made for the purpose of selling them) by people who don't even have a connection to the Aboriginals. On the other hand, it is part of the Aboriginal culture and we wanted something like that that would represent our time in Australia. Then we found Yuito. Yuito is of Aboriginal desent who lives near Carins Queensland with his family. His family has many Eucalyptus trees on their land and everytime they cut one down, they plant another in its place. Yuito does every step of making the instrument as well. He cuts the tree, sands the wood, and paints the didgeridoo. It takes him about a week to make 5. Shawn and I felt good about supporting his family business and not contributing to exploiting the eucalyptus forests (which you now know are home to my beloved koalas!) So, here is our didgeridoo. Our next challenge is learning how to use it. I got a "well...keep practicing" while Shawn got a "very good...keep it up"!! I was thinking that I could get really good at it and bring it in to kindergarten next year to play...then I rewatched the video and thought that perhaps I should just get a CD.